Body Language Techniques

Open body language#

Open your body up. Humans have a tendency to cross their arms and/or legs when they are feeling nervous or need protection. Go ahead and cross your arms and/or your legs. Do you feel shielded and safe? If you do, that’s great, but you do not want the interviewer to feel as if they are on the other side of a shield.

As soon as you sit down for an interview, automatically take a mental note of where your arms and legs are. Uncross your arms and legs if they’re crossed. If being so “unprotected” freaks you out, it is perfectly fine to cross your ankles as this will give you a feeling of protection without cutting the interviewer out.

Leaning in#

Lean-in to the conversation. Humans naturally “lean-in” to conversations that they are invested in. Next time you go to a restaurant, look at the body language of couples, those who seem to be having the best time will be leaning close to one another, while those who seem to be disconnected will be sitting back. So, try “leaning” into the interview and see what happens.

Mirroring#

Mirror your interviewer. Mirroring is a natural thing that humans do when they are “vibing” with one another. Although it is not advised to start mirroring as soon as the interview starts, it is a good thing to do once a rapport has been established as it reinforces your human connection.

What does this mean? It means that if the interviewer crosses their arms, you cross yours. If they cross their legs, you cross your legs too. However, it is important that you do not mimic the interviewer’s movement too quickly afterward; you do not want them to think that you are copying them.

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That’s it on body language! In the next lesson, we’ll look at some techniques for video conference interviews.